England's oldest hotel could be replaced by a £17million luxury apartment complex after being destroyed by a fire five years ago.
Plans are being put forward to turn the Grade II listed Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter, Devon - which dates back to 1769 - into 23 luxury homes, complete with a restaurant and bar.
It comes after the devastating fire in 2016, which broke out at a fine art gallery and then spread to the hotel's roof, gutted the building's historic interior.
Shocking aerial photographs showed the scale of destruction left behind by the incident - which locals said 'ripped the heart out of the city centre'.
The site is credited as being England's first ever hotel and counts the likes of Lord Nelson, Beatrix Potter and Thomas Hardy as former guests.
But despite efforts to try and reopen as a hotel, plans are now being put forward to turn it into a restaurant and bar on the ground floor with luxury apartments above.
The ambitious scheme was revealed on Wednesday after the site was acquired by South West Lifestyle Brands in August 2020 for around £2million.
Plans are being put forward to turn the Grade II listed Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter, Devon - which dates back to 1769 - into 23 luxury homes, complete with a restaurant and bar (Pictured: Artist's impression of the new proposed site, which plans to restore its original facade)
The hotel was completed gutted by a devastating fire in 2016, which residents said 'ripped the heart out of the city centre'
The blaze started in a next door art gallery before spreading to the roof of the hotel
An artist's impression of the proposed site shows how the exterior will look almost identical to how it was before the blaze
The new site will house 23 luxury homes, with a mix of two and three-bedroom apartments (Pictured: Artist's impression of a courtyard)
The new homes will include three duplex apartments over two floors (Pictured: Artist's impression of duplex balcony)
The proposal said it wants to restore as much of the original interior as possible (Pictured: Artist's impression of living room inside one of the new apartments)
Artist's impression of the proposed apartments shows doors opening onto a large rooftop balcony
The ambitious scheme was revealed on Wednesday after the site was acquired by South West Lifestyle Brands in August 2020 for around £2million (Pictured: Artist's impression)
The back end of the apartment complex will feature red brick walls and juliet balcony windows
The proposed apartment complex is filled with leafy communal areas, pictured here in an artist's impression
Large trees and a water feature offer a zen vibe inside the proposed luxury complex (Pictured: Artist's impression)
At the centre of the Royal Clarence a courtyard space will be 'exposed to the elements and designed to be a low maintenance amenity space', the plans explain (Pictured: Artist's impression)
A bannister free staircase with an adjoining glass wall is pictured in an artist's impression of the interior
The apartments will boast spacious balconies while tall windows will flood their interiors with light (Pictured: Artist's impression)
The duplex apartments on the upper level are set to be blessed with ample rooftop space (Pictured: Artist's impression)
A restaurant is penned for the ground floor of the proposed complex, which has been dubbed The Royal Clarence (Pictured: Artist's impression)
The proposal vows that both the homes and the commercial space on the ground floor 'will be finished to a high-end, luxurious standard reflecting the importance of the Royal Clarence'
